


Punch The Clock

by Squishychickies



Category: Heathers (1988), Heathers: The Musical - Murphy & O'Keefe
Genre: Chansaw, Duke is a bitch, F/F, F/M, Happy Ending, M/M, actually nice chandler??, duke has bulimia, idk how to write thistle probably be bad, kurt and ram are amazing and i love them very much, mcnamara must be protected, redo AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2019-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-13 22:57:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13580694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squishychickies/pseuds/Squishychickies
Summary: Veronica wakes up at a pre-murder lunch with the Heathers, and the last thing she remembers is her boyfriend blowing himself up after murdering three people. She learns through a mysterious meeting with Father Time that she can prevent all this, but doesn't know how. How to prevent the murders? How to protect her friends? How to get Kurt and Ram to realize they're gay for each other?She guesses she'll have to find out.Redo AU.





	1. Day 1, Week 1

**Author's Note:**

> UMMM hey! I'm always open to constructive criticism as to grammar and stuff, so if you notice anything's off or if theres something you think i can improve, please mention it! Thanks, and enjoy!

     "--ronica, Veronica! Are you even listening to me?"

Veronica opens her eyes slowly, adjusting to the light in the room. She supposes she must be in the hospital or something, because she doesn't remember much from after Jason Dean's death. She sits up, fully expecting to see a doctor or a nurse or even her parents in front of her. Instead, she is shocked to see Heather Duke, Heather McNamara, and  _Heather Chandler_ sitting in front of her, all alive and well if not slightly annoyed.

Veronica leaps out of her seat, and whirls around to see she's standing in the middle of Westerburg's cafeteria. To her left, Kurt and Ram jokingly punch each other's shoulders, and to her right, JD is sitting by the trashcans eating and tapping on his phone's screen.  _What is happening here?_

"Veronica!"

She is snapped out of her thoughts by the irritated voice of Heather Chandler, the pretty and  _apparently alive_ leader of the Heather squad. "Oh, um, sorry Heather," Veronica replies, slightly breathless. She sits back down. "What did you um, say again?"

Heather tosses back her head with an sigh of deepest grievances, as though it truly pains her to have to repeat herself. "I  _said,_ " she snapped, eyes venomous, "Have you noticed that new kid over there? Trench coat kid?" She points to JD's trash can corner. "He seems gay. Is he gay?"

Though this is an odd question, Veronica finds herself responding with a shake of her head. She knows from past experiences that JD is most definitely  _not_ gay. "No," she says. Heather Number One narrows her eyes, while Duke scoffs and McNamara just looks politely disinterested. 

"Are you sure?" Chandler asks. "How do you know?"

_Oh, well, because I dated him until I found out he was a psychotic murderer trying to bump off my friends one by one. He blew up after that._

_Yeah, no._ She thinks. "Um," Veronica searches for a non-weird/murderous answer. "I think I saw him making out with some girl earlier." 

Heather cocks her head to one side in thought, and says, "Hm."

Curiously, Veronica asks, "What would you think if he _was_ gay?"

Heather splutters for a moment, blushing and shocked, before responding with venom, "It would be  _disgusting._ Of course it would be. Why wouldn't it?"

 _Hm._ Veronica thinks. This information doesn't shock her, yet still makes her sad. It makes a lot of sense that Heather Chandler is homophobic, yet, there was still been a tiny part of her hoping that her friend would be more accepting of LGBTQ+ people.  _Oh well,_ she thinks.  _You can't have everything._

Veronica feels this information would have had more of an effect on her if she weren't still trying to figure out what the  _hell_ had happened to make her wake up in the middle of a pre-murder lunch at Westerburg. It wasn't like Veronica  _wanted_ everyone to be dead, yet, she had a hard time accepting that they weren't.  _Is this time travel? Is it magic? Wha--_

Her thoughts were interrupted by a raspy voice calling her name. 

"Veronica! Veronica!" It says in a deep, rasping voice. She looks up to see a shadowy, cloaked figure with two glowing blue eyes standing right on top of the lunch table.  _Right on top of Heather Duke's lunch._ Oh well. The poor girl isn't about to keep that down anyways.

Veronica gasps in shock, her face turning into one of horror. "Who--? What--?" She sputters, but the creature reaches down and puts a finger to her mouth.

" _Shush!"_ It hisses, blue eyes narrowing. "Only you can see or hear me. Now, make an excuse and go outside where we can talk."

Too dumbfounded to do anything but comply, Veronica stutters out, "I, um, have, an, um, thing to do. Be right back."

With that, she leaps away from the lunch table as though it were on fire and sprints at top speed to the doors at the back of the cafeteria. She ignores the weird glances she's getting and almost trips over her own feet, but makes it out of the heavy double doors quickly. To her shock, the creature is already waiting outside for her.

It gestures with a talon-like hand to follow it, and Veronica helplessly obeys. The thing doesn't say a word until they are safe behind the school by the dumpsters, a secluded location where they won't be found. Only stoners really hang out there, and with luck they'll probably be too high to even care or think anything of the weird scene. 

"I am Father Time," the creature, Father Time, she supposes, announces, flourishing his arms. The hood of his cloak falls down to reveal, well, nothing. His head is more of a black shadowy blob with two glowing blue eyes. They don't have pupils. He lacks a mouth, and, much like Voldemort, Veronica thinks, has only slits for a nose. His cloak is a deep maroon with blue the same color of his eyes lining the insides, and he seems to float rather than stand or walk. His hands are also black and shadowy, but with talon-like claws instead of fingers. His voice, deep and raspy, seems to come not from where his mouth should be, but from where Veronica guesses his heart is, as though the sound is coming from deep, deep inside him. She takes in his appearance, steps back, and introduces herself.

"I'm Veronica." She all but yells, her voice loud and unsteady from nerves. The creature chuckles (could it even be called a chuckle?) and replies, "Oh, I know. I've been watching you."

"I--, Um," Veronica doesn't know what to say. She stares, dumbfounded at Time for just a second before he swoops, cloaks billowing behind him, right up into her face. 

"No time for pleasantries," He hisses, his blue eyes narrowing. "I've come here for an important reason."

"Wha--" Veronica starts to speak, but is interrupted by Father Time. 

"Heather Chandler, Kurt Kelly, Ram Sweeney, and Jason Dean were not meant to die! The timeline is wrong. You messed up."

"But, I, how?" Veronica questions desperately. 

"It wasn't supposed to happen!" He repeats incessantly. He is close enough to be spitting on her face if he'd have had a mouth. "You were  _not_ meant to talk to Jason Dean that night in the Seven Eleven!"

Veronica thinks about this for a moment. She can barely remember that night because of the copious amounts of alcohol that had been in her system at the time, but she does remember running into JD. And something about corn nuts...

"When Heather called you from the car to hurry up with the corn nuts, you were supposed to  _listen_!" He insists. Veronica backs up until her back is against the grimy brick wall of the school. 

"Okay," Veronica agrees breathlessly. "But, why do you care? I've never heard of something like, like  _this,_ like  _you_ happening!"

Father Time swoops away from her again and floats about a foot above the ground, his eyes' glare becoming brighter and brighter. "Because it never  _has happened_ before!"

Veronica is confused. "Then why--"

"Because Kurt and Ram were my favorite humans! I have watched over this earth for centuries and centuries. And Kurt and Ram were my favorite! So ignorant! So funny! So entertaining," He flies around and gestures a lot as he speaks, his raspy voice louder and clearer than it had previously been. "But then, that idiot Jason Dean murdered them! Completely unexpected! Heather too," he rambles, "Heather Chandler always was a very pretty girl. Lesbian, too. You don't see that a lot in popular girls. Yet she, too, killed without a second thought! It frustrates me so much!"

Lesbian?  _Heather Chandler was a lesbian?_ "Um, Heather isn't gay," Veronica said, the confusion in her tone making it clear she thinks this information is obvious. "She's never--"

Veronica is interrupted yet again by Time swooping forward and pressing a finger to her lips. "No time for this! You are running out of time! There are exactly two weeks until the first murder, and you must stop it. Do everything you did differently. Protect everyone."

"So," Veronica begins, still confused as to what she has to do. "Just protect Heather Chandler for two weeks? That seems easy enough."

Time scoffs, crossing his arms. "Obviously not! The timeline was altered when you refused to get Heather her corn nuts. She wasn't supposed to be first. Therefore, she won't be this time."

Veronica is baffled. If not Heather, then who was the first victim supposed to be? "Who, then?" She demands, putting her hands on her hips.

Time scoffs once again. "I don't know!" He throws his hands in the air. "I can't see the future! Logic tells me it shouldn't be Heather Chandler. But I've never explored this timeline before. I don't know  _who!_ Could be anyone! You, another Heather,  _maybe_ Chandler. You've got to figure it out yourself!"

Veronica's mouth hangs open. This seems impossible. Protect everyone in Sherwood, Ohio, for two weeks just to make sure JD didn't go crazy and try to kill anyone? Impossible. Simply impossible.

Father Time seems to sense her thoughts, and the creases around his eyes soften in compassion. "I wish I could help. I really do. But I haven't a clue who it will be. I will check in with you in two weeks if the murder is successfully prevented, in order to give you more information. Otherwise, four people, maybe more, will die. Goodbye, Veronica. Good luck."

And just like that, Father Time vanishes, leaving no trace of himself left. Veronica's mouth hangs open in shock, and she can barely think, let alone prevent a murder. Her mind clouded with shock, she begins to walk numbly back to the cafeteria. As she sits back down between Heathers McNamara and Chandler, she wonders what she could possibly say to her friends, knowing that in two weeks, if she doesn't figure this out, someone would die.


	2. Day 2, Week 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica gets ice cream with the Heathers, runs into J.D., and almost has to break up a catfight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I RETURN. A bunch of people have pointed out that this seems a lot like another story, and someone even linked me to it. I read a couple of chapters and WOAH you guys were right, this is SUPER similar haha. I don't intend to copy them or anything though, so I want the rest of the story to differ from that greatly. Thanks for understanding, hope you all enjoy!

"Remember. The ice cream place by our school. 2:30. BRING CORN NUTS."

_Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep._

Veronica puts down her phone with a sigh. When she had returned, disturbed, to the lunch table yesterday after learning that her friends' lives were in her hands, Red Heather had announced that they (they meaning herself, Implant Heather, Nice Heather, and Veronica) would be meeting at Coldstone the next day for ice cream. Then she had grabbed the other Heathers' arms, announced that they were leaving to sit with someone who wouldn't leave them in the middle of lunch, and flounced off haughtily. Today is Saturday, and Veronica isn't looking forward to wasting her day with her "friends." Still, she figures it's important to keep an eye on them to protect them from J.D., so she agrees to meet them for ice cream, and, in Chandler's case, corn nuts.

Veronica sighs again, just because she can, and opens up her closet to find an outfit the Heathers will deem acceptable. Right now she's just wearing gray sweatpants and a baggy T-shirt, and theres absolutely no way the Heathers will be seen with her looking like she'd just crawled out of either her bed or a dumpster. She selects her usual blue blazer and socks, but decides to change it up a little with a different, black, skirt. She figures the little change won't matter too much to the Heathers, and she's getting sick of wearing  _exactly_ the same thing every day.

She bounds down the stairs, calls out to her mother to let her know where she'll be going, grabs her keys, and gets into her car. The engine starts after a few tries (it's an old broken-down car that Veronica'd received from her uncle) and she's on her way.

Veronica is almost to the ice cream shop when she realizes she's forgotten Heather's corn nuts. She curses softly underneath her breath, and makes a right turn to head to the nearest 7-11. She figures it'll be J.D.-free, since this isn't the same 7-11 she'd run into him at the night of the party. Still, she checks for his car in the parking lot before pulling in and getting out of her own car.

The little bell dings above Veronica's head as she walks into the store. She glances around, checking again for J.D., and decides its safe before venturing in further to grab the corn nuts. She almost makes the mistake of getting plain ones, but remembers just in time that Heather likes the B.Q. flavor better. Veronica doesn't know why she'd almost forgotten, Heather'd made it perfectly clear that B.Q. corn nuts were the only ones good enough for her. She shrugs off her forgetfulness. It's not important.

She has paid for the corn nuts and exited the store before she sees a familiar black truck pulling into the parking lot. It takes her just a moment to recall who it belongs to, but it soon dawns on her and her facial expression changes to one of horror. It's J.D.'s truck.

Veronica wastes absolutely no time in running briskly to her car and trying to start the engine, but it won't cooperate. She turns the key with increasing desperation, but the old car stays put. She prays that J.D. won't notice her, but he gets out of the car and waves at her, smiling. 

Veronica puts on a pained smile in return and waves stiffly back, feeling sweat forming on her brow. Luckily, J.D. turns around and walks into the store before initiating any sort of conversation, and Veronica is finally able to get her car to start. She peels out of the parking lot at top speed, and drives to Coldstone so quickly she's surprised no cops are pulling her over.

_Oh my god. Oh. My. Actual. Fucking. God. Did I just change the timeline again? Was that meant to happen? Is Chandler gonna die now? Am I gonna die now?_

Her thoughts race almost as fast as her car, but luckily she makes it to the ice cream place without causing any major traffic accidents. As Veronica pulls into her parking space in front of the store, she sees the three Heathers are already sitting at a table in front of the store. McNamara eagerly digs into her sundae, Duke stiffly pokes her small bowl of ice cream with a spoon, looking disgusted, and Chandler sits back in her chair, arms and legs crossed. Her ice cream sits untouched on the table.

As Veronica gets out of the car, McNamara waves cheerfully at her. Veronica waves back, but not before Chandler can notice her. The red-clad teenager stands up and snarls, "Veronica! You're late. I  _specifically_ said 2:30. And do you have my corn nuts?"

Veronica rolls her eyes and plunks herself down into a chair between Heathers Chandler and Duke. "Relax, Heather. I have your corn nuts right here." She throws them at Chandler's face. She catches them, inspects them (probably to check wether they're B.Q. or not) and decides they're satisfactory. Chandler sniffs and gingerly sits down, opening the corn nuts and beginning to eat her now-melting ice cream. "They're the reason I was late," Veronica continues. "I almost ran into--" She stops herself. She realizes the Heathers won't know who J.D. is right now, apart from the new-and-possibly-gay kid.

Before the intended Heather can answer, Duke coughs as if to grab their attention and says, "Well, don't be late again. The only reason we're here is because Heather over here--" she points to Chandler "--wanted to see y--agh!"

Duke is cut off before she can finish her sentence by Chandler slapping her cheek and glaring. Duke coughs again and nods, rolling her eyes. "Sorry," McNamara says, looking kindly over to Veronica while the other two Heathers engaged in a silent catfight with Veronica between them. "She meant to say that we're here because Heather was sad you left at lunch. She likes hanging out with _all_ her friends, you know?"

Veronica, while weirded out, nods and says, "Well, I'm gonna go get my ice cream now. Anything else you guys want?" All the Heathers answer no, so Veronica walks in and orders. She picks out cookies and cream with rainbow sprinkles and chocolate sauce in a bowl, and comes back outside after paying. Duke and Chandler are still arguing while McNamara deliberately digs into her ice cream and pretends not to notice.

"Whats your damage, Heather? Do you  _want_ her to know?"

"God, I kinda feel like she should. I mean--"

"Shut  _up,_ Heather! Hi Veronica!"

As soon as the two squabbling girls notice Veronica joining them back at their table, they silence their arguments and wave cheerily to a confused Veronica. She awkwardly waves back and sits down, wondering what the  _hell_ that was about. 

"Anyways," McNamara says loudly, as if to divert her two friends from arguing, "Ram Sweeney is having a homecoming party next week. We're all going, right?"

Veronica feels a surge of panic sweep through her. "Nope! No! Noo-ooooo. I'm busy. Sorry."

McNamara looks confused. "But, I didn't even tell you what day it was on!"

Veronica crosses her arms stubbornly. "Well, I'm busy either way."

Chandler, whose face had fallen at Veronica's refusal, chimed in. "We all  _have_ to go, Veronica. We can't just go with the three of us. Thats an incomplete group. You don't do that. You just don't."

Veronica found it odd and slightly endearing that Chandler considered her an official Heather, but still was filled with anxiety about the party due to the potential murder it could cause. She weighed her options. 

_If I don't go, maybe J.D. won't know about it, won't go to Heather's house, and won't kill her! But what if he's invited for some reason, and he kills her or someone else there? Theres so many more possible victims at the party..._

"I'll go, actually." Veronica hears herself saying it before her brain can even process the words. She's reasoned with herself enough to know that there'll be more likely victims at the party, and she could perhaps distract J.D. if he happened to come. That would most likely involve sex, which didn't exactly appeal to her. But she supposes it's better than her friends getting murdered.

Duke doesn't respond, McNamara squeals, "Great!", and Chandler simply says, "Fine." She's smiling though, and Veronica can't help but think that a genuine smile looks quite nice on her.


	3. Crap goes Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the Heathers have a friendly chat with JD.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to update. Oopsy daisies.

On Monday, Veronica returns to school prepared. She’s taking no chances with the murder of her friends, and has thus packed a kitchen knife in her backpack. There’s no security at Westerburg, so she’s able to smuggle it in, no problem.

It’s for self-defense only. To be whipped out in case of emergency. Also, it’s the only thing that makes her feel safe even walking into the same building as JD.

Veronica had hoped he’d be absent. Prayed, even. But JD had shown up in first period chemistry, just the same as always, and continues to stick around throughout the rest of the day.

Heather Chandler notices her staring. “What is your thing with the new kid?” she demands at lunch. Today, they’re eating meatloaf-of-doom and mashed potatoes.

“Nothing, Heather,” Veronica responds uneasily. She’s nervous. What happens if someone finds out about Father Time? What happens if Heather finds out that, in an alternate timeline, Veronica literally murdered her?

“Yeah, right. You’ve been staring at him all day.” Heather looks majorly irked, stabbing her mashed potatoes with a plastic knife as though they need to be chopped.

Duke helpfully chips in with, “Yes, do us a favor and adjust your skirt. Hide your total  _lady boner.”_

“Shut up, Heather!” Veronica snaps, crossing her arms angrily. “I do not have a lady boner. I’m just...”

What is a viable, relevant excuse for staring at JD all day? Something the Heathers will accept and believe. Something...

”I’m trying to figure out if he’s gay.”

Chandler smirks approvingly. “Been wondering the same thing myself. What do you say we do a little investigation?”

”What?” asks Veronica.

”What?” inquires Duke.

”What?” gasps McNamara.

”Let’s go.” snaps Chandler.

Suddenly, Heather Chandler has grabbed Veronica’s arm, and they’re gliding across the cafeteria. Duke and McNamara follow them, bickering in whispers.

”I thought Veronica said he was straight,” frets McNamara quietly.

”He wears a trench coat, Heather!” Duke hisses as though that solves it.

”I guess Heather just has a thing about gay people,” supposes McNamara.

”I can hear you!” Chandler snaps, quickening her march across the wide room. Her hold on Veronica’s arm has tightened; Veronica can just imagine the imprints those fake nails are going to leave.

”Sorry, Heather!” Chorus the other Heathers. And suddenly, there’s JD.

He’s sitting on the floor, leaned up against two trash cans, one of which casts ominous shadows across his face. Veronica gulps nervously, then remembers she’s a Heather now. She’s gotta play the part.

Deploy bitchiness.

She puts one hand on her hip, shoves out her chest so that her boobs are on full display, and cocks her head.

JD looks up at her interestedly. “Hey, girls,” he greets breezily.

All four Heathers (Veronica included, even as her heart pounds a mile a minute) give the patent-pending Heather Giggle, Duke twirling her hair. They all instinctively look to Heather Chandler.

“Hi, newb,” Chandler says silkily, leaning down and forward so that her breasts are very much in JD’s face. He scoots back, and Heather grins malevolently.

”Sorry!” she gasps in mock apology, a well-manicured hand coming up to cover her mouth. “I didn’t realize you’d mind!”

Once again, Chandler scoots forward. Her chest is at his eye-level now.

JD wearily scoots back, his eyes flickering back and forth as though he’s not sure where to look. “No harm done,” he says, a hint of suspicion creeping into his voice.

”I’m so glad,” Heather purrs. “Oops!”

She’s dropped a scrunchie. Veronica leans down to pick it up, but Chandler gets there first. The Alpha Heather has bent down to pick it up, making sure JD gets a good display of her body. He scoots back again. His back makes contact with the wall.

”I’m so sorry,” Heather mocks again, faking concern on a very evil facial expression. “Are you uncomfortable?”

”Actually, yes.” JD is standing now, and even with Heather’s heels, he is taller than any of the girls.

”Are you not enjoying this?” asks Heather, taking a step towards her prey.

”Not particularly, no.” JD’s eyes are glinting now. Oh, God. Veronica knows that look. She knows it too, too well. She feels her arm creeping towards her backpack’s front pocket, where her knife is located...

”So presumptuous of me to assume you swung that way,” Heather growls. McNamara and Duke step forward threateningly, but Veronica can’t make her feet move. She tries. They won’t.

”It would be perfectly okay if you had other preferences...”

”I like women,” JD retorts. “Just not slutty ones.” He looks evil. He looks scary. He looks murderous, suddenly.

Heather’s eyes widen. Veronica sucks in a gasp. “Oh, no use denying it,” Heather informs him, turning around to leave. “You’ve made yourself perfectly clear. Let’s go, girls.”

And the Heather’s are flouncing out of the room.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Aaaaaaaaaaand there we are. Please let me know what you think. 1628 words. short i know sorry ha


End file.
